Messed up in God's hands

A couple Sundays ago I was listening to a preacher's sermon on Jeremiah 18:1-5. God had sent him to the potter's house to see an illustration of the people of Israel and Himself. I've read it before and you can read it on your own as well. This time I realized something I never took notice of before - we can be messed up in God's hands.

Now this is not to say or even imply that this is God's deficiency or inability to keep us right. This is to say that even as we are on our Christian journey we go off course.  We mess up and become not as he intended. Why? Because even in His hands we want to do our own thing. We want to rebel. We want to choose our own way. At least this has been my issue many a time.

So here is the truth. Sin, our departure from Gods way and perfect design, causes deformity of the spirit. We basically need the potter to remold us and as the Pastor pointed out it is not painless. There has to be a breaking apart. The cracks and brokenness requires God to once again bring us down to just clay in order to rework us.  We need to be pliant in his hands and it will have to be done by breaking us down again. Then He has to refine us. The reshaping has to be set by fire. Ouch! Then we are placed away for the curing process. Put aside on a shelf but not forgotten by God.

I don't know what you are experiencing right this minute but I still want to encourage you. God doesn't throw you out when you are messed up. God doesn't say that's it garbage for you. He doesn't leave us in the mess but by His own hands he remolds, reshapes, restores and repurposes. So don't call yourself out. Don't try to get off His potters wheel. Stay put and go through. Being messed up in God's hands is the best place to be. He takes your mess and reshapes it for the message.

Waiting on God

I don't know you and I probably will never meet you. 


On the other hand, if I do know you, please do me a favor and never repeat this to me.


So I am single.  I have been single for quite some time - over a decade with no dates or hook ups. Now I am a little selective in who I would choose.  However, there has been no one on the list to choose from.  No.  Don't feel sorry for me. I am not upset.  I am waiting.


I am waiting on God to prepare me for that husband to find me.  He that findeth a wife, findeth a good thing.  Therefore I need to be found.  Yes this is so not what the world outside the pages of my bible dictates.  In fact, you may even just now have rolled your eyes and think old fashioned biddy. 


That's fine.


Okay so while I am waiting on God can I confess to no-one in particular something.  I have been so desiring of a kiss.  Oh my goodness.  I was thinking to myself I so would love to be married so I can kiss my husband without guilt and fear of taking it beyond righteousness and holiness.  I laugh as I think it is a bit silly but hey, that is what I feel.  My reality is my reality. :-)


Will I act on this desire of mine?  No.  I am waiting on God.

Something New

I am learning something new.  Now while I am not that old (unless you ask my 9y/o niece) so I can still teachable.  Then again so is my Embrace Sister who is well into her 80s and defies the old (no pun intended), saying "you cant teach an old dog new trick". 


So anyway, I am learning how to speak to my twenty-two year old son in his language. Puzzled?  Don't be.  I am simply learning how to speak to my son as a man.  Have you ever heard that men need respect and women need to hear about love?  God made no mistakes when he made them male and female. The truth is we are not the same and I never really paid attention to our differences until now. 


Now, I am armed with inside knowledge from a Doctor Emerson who is giving me the language to communicate effectively and without disrespecting him as I have often done.  In the first few chapters of the book I had checked off everything on the what not to do list - done!  This was definitely not my finest moment and the temptation to feel like a failure was strong and real.  In my mind I ran through the many years and wrestled at how many times I had failed to give him honor and respect. 


I am singing the song loud and off key R E S P E C T - find out what it means to me!!!! Only this was his song and I never heard it.  I had tuned him out and denied him of his manly need.  Oi!


Okay so I can't change yesterday but I can stop the bleeding today.  I can learn something new and by George I am gonna give it all I got.  Doc Emerson's book Mother and Son the Respect Effect will become very good friends.  Go ahead and give it a try...its worth it to learn something new.


https://loveandrespect.info/mother-and-son-the-respect-effect

One Day At A Time

Recently I did a talk on the topic One Day At A Time.  It was then that I realized something...I was never in the moment.  I was either looking back on days spent or casting my eyes too far ahead.  I missed out on the moments that I was in; the gift of the present.  I was not taking each day one at a time. 


Does that sound like your life?  Missing out on the things right before your eyes?  My friend let us not do this to ourselves anymore.  In fact let us be intentional to be present.  You. Me. Right here.  Right now.  Living out this day and leaving all our tomorrows in God's hands.  Don't you remember that He alone stands at the beginning and the end of our lives?


We can trust Him.  We can be content taking it our day one at a time. :-)

God hears you. God sees you.

This past Sunday I had an opportunity to go to the prison for services there. I love the women there and somehow God allows me to see them not as felons but as sisters. I see them as women who are worthy of God's grace and mercy just as I am. Murderers, adulterers, fornicators, liars and cheaters were some of us before Christ.

I sat listening to the speaker as she spoke from 2 Kings 20:1-7. The King was sick and he was told to set his house in order. A death sentence was given to him. He was ailing and would not recover. Ouch! Talk about bad news. When we receive that report from the doctors we can say no way, no how! What do you say when God is the sender of this report? What do you say if this is his word over your life? You will surely die. Think about it for a moment.

Well Hezekiah did what I imagine most of us would do. He turned his face to the wall and prayed. He turned his back to everything else around him and faced the impenetrable wall of doom and he cried out to God. The bible said he wept bitterly. He was not trying to hold on to the lie that men don't cry. This poor man cried real tears before his God.

What struck me at this point is that God heard and sent word. He changed the report and sent back the  prophet to the king. The prophet did not even have enough time to leave the palace and I imagine that while the words were still coming out of Hezekiah's mouth God sent His answers. He said to him I heard your prayers and I saw your tears.

For me that struck a chord within and brought such encouragement and delight. God hears me and sees me. He really really does! My prayers are not just going to the air with nobody on the other end. There is a connection on the other side of Heaven. God is on the line with me. He hears and he sees!!!

Friends this was what I needed to press in all the more to Him. This is what I needed to pray the prayers that I know will avail much. God brings the answers. Don't lose heart...just pray!

There is therefore now no condemnation...

I wonder if Paul knew the torment of guilt when he penned this verse in Romans  8. I can tell you this much, over the last two days it has been a constant reinforcement to my guilt ridden soul.

I did what I was not to do and it weighed upon me like a ton of bricks. I felt certain David understood as he confessed to God his sins. Oh God, my sins are ever before me. It's like the unwanted commercial break you can't fast forward or delete. I wonder to myself how did I get here?

Charles Stanley would say that I allowed myself to be drifted away. Somehow my focus  was less on God and more on me. Less word, less prayer and the recipe for disaster was quickly made.

So here I am, repented but fighting against the lies that says I am not forgiven. I know THIS is not just my struggle. I know you have been there and may even be there now. So what do we do?

The truth dispels the lies. ..there really is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. He really is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness. That is the truth and he will not take it back.  So despite how we feel, good or bad, we who believe in Him must believe His word. It is the key to our freedom. We are forgiven.

Lord Teach Me How To Love

I am struggling. 
I am crying.
I am fighting.
I am really trying to love. 


Love is patient.
Love is kind.
Love does not keep a record of wrongs done.
Love does not boast.
Love is what I need to choose right now and I confess it is not easy.


I need to do what God has asked me to do and he says do not be offended.  He says he needs me to not be distracted by these events in my life.  This is not the life I imagined. I never foresaw these days of turmoil and unrest.  God where is your peace?  I so desperately need You right now.


Love is patient.
Love is kind. 


Again and again I must remind myself of this word; this truth that is to set me free.  I don't know why I thought I should be exempt from trials when the word of God says I would have them for sure.  He knows how much I can bear.  I am not unique in having hard times....it is life. 


Lord teach me your ways.  Teach me how to wait upon you.  Teach me Lord how to love like you do.